Zeiss CZI

[Benjamin Gilbert]

On 08/02/2014 05:33 PM, PD Dr. M. Weihrauch wrote:
> I totally disagree with the idiotic strategy of many microscope scanner
> vendors to keep the file formats proprietary. Usually, opening file
> formats adds to your business (as well as offering a good API).

Obviously I agree with you, and we encourage vendors to open their 
formats.  In the specific case of CZI, there is existing open-source 
parsing code that can be used as a reference, so we do have multiple 
ways to learn about the format.

> Out of interest: is it "illegal" to decipher a file format and offer a
> way to open the files?

In many places, the law explicitly allows this sort of thing (the key 
word is "interoperability"), though the details can matter a great deal. 
  Of course I'm not in any position to offer legal advice.  :-)

--Benjamin Gilbert